I was pregnant with my second child. My first born, son Avery, was born 6 years prior premature at 36-1/2 weeks, so I was on bed rest throughout most of my pregnancy with our daughter Hannah. I was monitored 24/7 by a machine that read contractions and sent the info to a nurse who would call to check on me whenever the machine showed I was having too many contractions.

By all accounts, it was a smooth pregnancy until 32 weeks. I had gone to the pharmacy because I was out of my medication for contractions and the pharmacy refused to even give me one dose for coverage even though I was out. After arguing with the pharmacy that I was at risk for early delivery to no avail, I went home with a bad pounding headache. I told myself I was just stressed out and I just needed to lie down. My head was still pounding when I drifted off to sleep.

I would have kept sleeping but I heard a distant phone ringing. I finally woke up to try to answer the phone. I walked to the kitchen (we still had landlines with voicemail back then) and replayed the message. It was my sister who said she was coming home from Germany soon and not to have my baby yet. Just then, my water broke. I called my husband and told him that I couldn’t wait for him and that I was going to drive myself to the hospital, which was an easy 10 minute drive up the street.

Because the doctor and hospital were familiar with me as a high risk patient, I was instructed to go directly to the maternity unit. I was immediately brought to my room and the nurse checked my urine, got blood for labs and had me lay down. The labs came back quickly and along with the urine results, indicated I was suffering from preeclampsia. My blood pressure was 180/110 and they told me I was at risk for a stroke. Also, my liver and kidneys were shutting down; I was going into organ failure.

Despite my water breaking, I was still given medication to help stop the contractions until the doctor can figure out the best way to treat me. I was given steroids to help with the baby’s lungs and other medications to treat my symptoms later. Once I was stabilized and the baby’s heartbeat was normal, the doctor decided that I can go ahead and deliver naturally and I didn’t need a C-section.

After four hours at the hospital, I was given medication to induce labor. Five hours later, I was ready to give birth. The doctor barely walked in through the door when I started pushing. My daughter Hannah was born just minutes later. She was very small, only 4 pounds, 3 ounces. Her ears didn’t have any folds.

Miraculously, she did not have to go to the NICU. She was breathing in her own and her heart rate was good. She cried loudly and drank two bottles of milk only a short time after being born. I on the other hand was not okay. My blood pressure skyrocketed to over 200. At this point I still didn’t understand what preeclampsia was. It was not explained to me before. My daughter was discharged two days later but remained with me at the hospital for another week so I could breast feed her. They were monitoring me for signs of stroke and medicated me until my blood pressure went down.

I was told that if I had not gone to the hospital when I did, my daughter and I would likely not have survived. Had my sister not called me at that exact moment I would likely have died in my sleep along with my unborn daughter. My doctor was very competent but he never discussed preeclampsia with me. I also did not experience it with my first pregnancy. Had I been educated on the symptoms of preeclampsia, I would have gone to straight to the hospital instead of going to bed. It might have prevented my lengthy stay at the hospital and not put me at risk for stroke.

I am truly blessed that I had a positive outcome and my daughter was born healthy. Even though she was very tiny, she did not spend any time in the NICU. She is now a healthy 22 year-old.